Friday, June 22, 2012

What June 22nd Means To Me: The Killing And Other Random Thoughts

I've long thought AMC's The Killing existed within the world of a flawed concept. Shows that center around a murder investigation are nothing new to television, but creating one that would last two entire seasons was supposed to be something new and exciting. But there are only so many red herrings you can give an audience before we get bored, and there's only so much crappy backstory you can distract us with while attempting to plod the plot forward to its irresistible finale. In the end, all we got was relief that it was over.

Two years ago, AMC splashed the question "who killed Rosie Larsen?" across commercials and billboards. Unfortunately, the creative staff behind the show became obsessed with it, but perhaps it was all they knew. While they certainly were given enough time to create a unique world around an interesting question, they instead only serviced the murder case and fed us hackneyed drama until the clock ran out. Showrunner Veena Sud cut her television teeth as a writer for the show Cold Case, and fell into the trap of her background. Essentially, The Killing became, well, a 26 hour episode of Cold Case. We knew the murderer couldn't be Bennet, or Balko, or whoever, because there was still multiple episodes to go before the finale. But instead of unraveling Rosie's life, creating a compelling backstory that killed the myth of the virginal Rosie, we were sent on a pointless scavenger hunt of poor clues before discovering she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And, along the way, we were treated to hours of Rosie's parents asking themselves the same question, Holder's "drug addiction," Linden's custody battle, a pointless race for mayor, and a whole lot of rain. In the end, all these subplots were pink slime filler, and did nothing to create any intrigue behind the central question or the dark setting of the show. Perhaps there was nothing that could have saved The Killing from its difficult concept, but I have to believe that the effort put forward was not the best.

Also, the last twenty minutes of the show simply sucked. And Rosie's all too perfect eulogy to herself (via her film) was manipulative and worthy of an eye roll. If you wanted us to be sad, perhaps you should have made us care about Rosie in the first place. Oh, and I don't think teenage boys give a fuck about having a swingset in their backyards.

... on to other thoughts!

Now I can't hear! You know how they say when your ear rings, you lose the capability of hearing that tone for good? I sometimes think I've lost so many tones over the years, that some people's voices just become inaudible to me. This happened again yesterday when I was trying to order coffee from a perfectly nice, non-mumbling barista. She asked simple questions like "what size would I like?" but I had to ask her three times to repeat herself because I couldn't understand what she was saying. I even leaned in, ear forward, like an asshole. Maybe it's just a brain tumor that's gumming up incoming information. I bet it is.

LeBron James: He's a champion now. He just completed a historic playoff run. Enough with the crap about him being a beta male or a fraud or whatever. Just enjoy the greatest player of our generation. I sincerely think the HATE surrounding him is more a product of 24/7 media than anything he actually did. Due to oversaturated sports coverage and social media, we're in a constant discussion, which often makes us double down our opinions to help us form identity. If this took place in 1995, you may have had negative feelings about LeBron, but weren't asked to defend them constantly. Now you are...thus the overreaction.